Albert King recorded a lot in the early '60s, including some classic sides, but they never quite hit the mark. They never gained a large audience, nor did they really capture the ferocity of his single-string leads. Then he signed with Stax in 1966 and recorded a number of sessions with the house band, Booker T. & the MG's, and everything just clicked…

The cream of the crop of the blues legend's acclaimed '60s Stax Records work. King of the Blues Guitar is a compilation disc by blues guitarist and vocalist, Albert King. The album includes, "Born Under A Bad Sign", "Oh, Pretty Woman", and "The Very Thought of You".

Albert King is truly a "King of the Blues," although he doesn't hold that title. Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does – his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's important to note that while almost all modern blues guitarists seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliche, Albert King never does he's had his own style and unique tone from the beginning.

Good King Bad: The R&B elements get stronger, the sound and mix are more attuned to the dancefloor, yet this brings out the best in George Benson's funky side. Thanks in part to the more rigid beat, Benson pares down his style to its rhythmic essentials, refusing to spray notes all over the place at random, and as a result, the record cooks and dances.

The February 1974 appearance at the Purple Carriage House in Illinois is a highlight in King's live repertoire. Albert King’s tightly emotional hold on ‘Lucy’, his beloved Flying V guitar, teased an admiring and intimate crowd who could adjourn only after bearing witness to another of King’s mesmerising performances. This beautifully packaged edition contains a re-mastered original FM broadcast from radio station WXRT from Chicago. This 'Sunday in Concert' broadcast can only help in further celebrating the complex depth of a true musical giant.

When Rolling Stone reporter Jon Landau asked Albert King in 1968 who his guitar influences were, King replied, "Nobody. Everything I do is wrong." A pioneer of electric blues, King (who was left-handed) played a right-handed 1959 Gibson Flying V upside down, with the bass strings unconventionally facing the floor. He used an indecipherable secret tuning, hitting notes with his thumb. The six-foot-four, 300-pound King was able to bend notes farther and more powerfully than almost any other guitarist, and his records influenced a generation: Eric Clapton lifted the "Strange Brew" solo from King, and Duane Allman turned the melody of King's "As the Years Go Passing By" into the main riff of "Layla." Jimi Hendrix was star-struck when his hero opened for him at the Fillmore in 1967. "I taught [Hendrix] a lesson about the blues," said King. "I could have easily played his songs, but he couldn't play mine."

The Rockbeat label continues it's releases of old broadcasts of rock/jazz/blues artists, and this Albert King set is worth a listen if you're a fan of his blues style. The sound is actually pretty decent–similar to other recent live sets from this label–a bit flat but every instrument can easily be heard. And like other releases from this label some songs fade out prematurely. As usual the booklet notes are nothing all that great, except for the cover painting of King, and the disc slips inside a slot in the cardboard package.

Originally recorded for the Canadian television program In Session in 1983, this was a historic meeting of two artists that has been proven to be a very special moment This famed live jam session by Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan has proven to be an evening that will never be forgotten…

Curious, isn't it, how some of the greatest guitarists in post-war Blues history all shared the same regal surname? And entirely fitting. Freddie, Albert, and Earl King royally ruled the Blues kingdom with their brilliant innovations and seminal licks. All of them greatly impacted the Rock field as well. Eric Clapton cites Freddie as a major influence, while Stevie Ray Vaughan was an Albert acolyte. Jimi Hendrix did a dynamite version of Earl's 'Let The Good Times Roll.' These three kings of the electric Blues guitar played a mammoth role in defining the sound of post-war Blues guitar. Their influence remains monumental to this day.

All of King's recordings for the Bobbin label are on this 22-track disc, including everything from his 1959-1963 singles for the label and previously unissued alternate takes of "Why Are You So Mean to Me," "The Time Has Come," and the previously unissued "Blues at Sunrise." While these are decent journeyman urban blues/R&B, they're not up to the level of his subsequent recordings for Stax. Albert King just sounds too much like the records another King – B.B. King, that is – was making during the same era. There are similar horn arrangements and alternation of stinging guitar with smooth, confident vocal phrasing. It's a tribute to Albert King's abilities, in a way, that it does sound confident, and not the work of an imitator, despite the similarities.